Dake Gallery Fireplace

This room is named after Mrs. Harriet Walter Dake, a prominent social arbiter. Her family, Thomas S. Van Alyea, Thomas S. Van Alyea Jr., and Harriet Van Alyea Webb donated the wood paneling, which was installed in the museum in 1965 by Gildner, Lewis and Sons. The paneling is made from American Oak and is a copy of a 17th-century room in a Manor house at Bromley-by-Bow, England, which originally was a hunting lodge of Henry II.

The wood used in this room was originally from the house of Mrs. Harriet Walter Dake which was located just a block away on Back Bay Street. The plaster ceiling was installed by Julian Orlandini at the same time as the paneling. Orlandini has also done work on the Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion and is a notable Milwaukee artist. The eastern doors lead to a sleeping porch where the Smith family members would often sleep during the hot summer months. Today, this room is used for changing exhibitions.

Photography by Kevin Miyazaki.